Much like the former Yugoslavians, the “ethnic” Palestinian identity was formed over the course of the 20th century. A giant mistake Israel made was recognizing it rather than focusing on the fact they were Arabs that just lived in region not “ethnic” Palestinians. This nomenclature is what gave them hooks to the land.
It’s a mistake you once again you repeated by recognizing the former Yugoslavians as “Macedonians” rather than taking Greece’s position in the name dispute. Moral principles are based on.. wait for it… principle. By acknowledging the former Yugoslavians name you also implicitly, and unwittingly, gave international political capital for Palestinians to claim parts of Israel in perpetuity (much like former self-identifying ethnic Bulgarians of the former Yugoslavia do with Macedonia Greece)
Based on Greece’s history, including mistakes we have made, if I were in the shoes of Israel I would negotiate a two-state solution but must included following red lines…
– population exchange to end the whose minority is more persecuted game.
– they must change the name from flat Palestinian to something else (possible with qualifier) . This decouples the name from an overlapping territorial claims. Then point to Greece as an example. And if they don’t change names, they are not serious about peace.